How good are the non-Cosmere books compared to the Cosmere Books?

[Arcoss]

I've started reading the Cosmere books about 10 months ago and now I am almost finished with them. How good are Sanderson's other books compared to them?

 

Should I pick them up considering that I am not a big fan of YA books(though admittedly most of my experience with YA has only been with the famous ones like the Hunger Games)?

Edited April 16, 2016 by Arcoss

[Voidus]

Reckoners is pretty good still, though as a major participant in our Reckoners RP board I might be a bit biased.

[Zathoth]

I havent read Alcatraz yet, but Reckoners is good, not Cosmere good, but really good. Rithmatist is... obviously written for a younger audience. Still a decent book, but not Brandon good (Then again I havent finished it <.<)

[Straw he/him]

Reckoners is ok.

[Rasarr she/her]

Rithmatist is pretty good (I was all "why, why is there not part two already?!" upon finishing it), although yeah, it is more YA-ish. Then again, I don't read much YA either, and I liked it a lot. It's certainly different than the recent teenage dystopia fare, and magic is really interesting and fun to read about, not to mention the plot has your typical Sandersonian twists and turns. I wasn't overly fond of main character - he's a bit too run-of-the-mill for me - but the support cast more than makes up for it. Melody is awesome. 

 

Reckoners are good as well, though I admit I like Rithmatist more. Can't say about Alcatraz.

[Curiosity he/him]

I am a big fan of the Rithmatist, not as much the Reckoners (so much gun talk, and I called one of the major twists of the first book halfway through it). However, compared to a lot of other typical YA books, they have good characters and consistent worldbuilding.

 

Alcatraz is not typical Brandon Sanderson. But it's so much fun. Fourth-wall breaks, snarky commentary about the nature of books, and (a few) really bad jokes. What do you expect from a book about a cult of evil librarians who rule the world? (Yes, the magic is very much Sanderson, but I like that.)

 

Edit: Forgot Legion. It's a different kind of story. Think PI with science fiction, and you're halfway there. The character humor here is great, but there's too many questions about the main character's condition left unanswered for me to be very satisfied with these stories yet. I'm waiting for the third one to come out eventually, and then I'll be able to form a better opinion.

 

There's other stuff, which is pretty good, but these are the few that come to mind that I would recommend first.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Curiosity

[Otto Didact he/him]

You can definitely tell that Brandon writes Alcatraz, Reckoners, Rithmatist, et al. to blow off steam between the more "serious" books, but they're still really good. If you don't love YA, you could read Legion and Perfect State, which are both non-cosmere and non-YA. They're excellent, if short.

[Sunbird she/her]

I love Brandon's non-Cosmere works just as much as the Cosmere books. I would say Reckoners is the most awesome, but I think Alcatraz is the most fun. I love how that series makes fun of the fantasy genre, readers and authors, and itself, as well as playing with your expectations, all while telling an excellent story.

 

Part of the reason I like the Rithmatist so much is that I actually enjoy geometry (yeah, I know, I'm weird) and thought it was super cool to see it turned into a magic system. The Rithmatic diagrams at the beginning of every chapter are great too.

 

I also recommend Legion (and the sequel, Skin Deep). It's fun trying to wrap your head around all Stephen's aspects, and in true Brandon style, they both have excellent twists in the story.

[DSC01 he/him]

I don't like the non-Cosmere stuff nearly as much, myself. It does come down to personal preference (plenty of people are crazy about Reckoners, even though I don't like them as much). I've still read most of the non-Cosmere stuff, except Alcatraz, and you'll probably think it's at least worth reading.

[Who Sharded?]

The first two Reckoners books are my favorite of all of Brandon's "shorter" books, Cosmere or not.  Although Bands of Mourning is close for me. The Rithmatist is alright but it's probably my least favorite Brandon novel that I've read.  I've read the first two Alcatraz books so far and they're a lot of fun.  I usually don't think that Brandon's humor works very well, but it mostly works in these books because they're so absurd.

[Otto Didact he/him]

It's funny, because the first Brandon thing I ever read was Alcatraz, and I didn't even get all the way through it because I didn't find it too interesting. Later on someone handed me Mistborn and I've been hooked ever since. My wife's favorite Brandon book is Elantris, which I've never been too thrilled about. She doesn't love all of the cosmere stuff, but I can't get enough of it (seriously, Secret History is the coolest short fiction I've read in a while). The brilliant thing about Brandon's writing is that there are lots of different ways for people to get sucked in.